Richard Nixon/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, and a robot, Moby, are visiting a history museum. Tim stops to examine a magazine cover on display. The image is of President Nixon stepping down from the presidency. Text reads: Goodbye America. TIM: Man, that must have been a crazy time. Moby approaches Tim from behind. TIM: Don't you th - aaah! Moby is wearing a Richard Nixon mask. Tim is startled. TIM: Would you please take that off? It's creepy. Moby shakes his head. MOBY: Beep. Moby hands Tim a sheet of paper. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I'm doing a report on Richard M. Nixon, but I don't know much about him. Can you help? From, Gabi. TIM: Richard Milhous Nixon was the thirty-seventh president of the United States. He served from nineteen sixty-nine to nineteen seventy-four. An image shows Richard Nixon, with an American flag in the background. TIM: He's one of the most famous presidents in American history, though not necessarily for the best reasons. MOBY: Beep. Moby puts his Nixon mask to top of his head. TIM: Well, Nixon's presidency will always be remembered for how it ended. All the good things he did were overshadowed by a political scandal that led to the only resignation ever by a U.S. president. An animation shows a newspaper's front page. Its headline reads: Nixon Resigns. TIM: But let's start at the beginning. Nixon was born in nineteen thirteen in Yorba Linda, California. An animation shows the location of Yorba Linda, California on a map of the United States. TIM: Growing up, he was an excellent student. He attended Whittier College in California and the Duke University School of Law before starting his career as a lawyer. An animation shows Nixon carrying a briefcase and walking past signs for Whittier College and Duke University. TIM: Nixon married Thelma "Pat" Ryan, and joined the Navy in nineteen forty-two to help out with the U.S. efforts in World War Two. An animation shows Richard and Pat Nixon together. A naval officer's hat lands on Richard Nixon's head. TIM: When he returned from the war, Nixon decided to try his hand at politics. He was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives in nineteen forty-six and to the U.S. Senate in nineteen fifty. An animation shows a victorious Nixon in front of an election scoreboard that shows him winning a Senate seat. TIM: As a senator, Nixon became a leading voice against the spread of communism. An animation shows Nixon arguing with a bear wearing a Russian hat with the communist hammer and sickle on it. The bear represents the Soviet Union. MOBY: Beep. Moby holds up his Nixon mask. TIM: Oh, communism is an economic system where, ideally, all wealth is distributed evenly to everybody. An animation shows a pile of money being split up and evenly divided among several smiling faces. TIM: It usually doesn't work out that way, though. And the leaders of Communist countries usually end up with a huge amount of power. The smiling faces turn sad. An image appears of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong, three oppressive Communist leaders. TIM: Anyway, Nixon's star was rising, so General Dwight D. Eisenhower picked him as his running mate for the nineteen fifty-two presidential election. A black-and-white image shows Nixon and Eisenhower waving to a crowd. TIM: Eisenhower won, making Nixon, who was thirty-nine, one of the youngest vice-presidents in history. An image shows an Eisenhower/Nixon campaign button. Text on the button reads: Ike/Dick. There is the sound of applause. TIM: After serving for both of Eisenhower's terms, Nixon made a run for the presidency in nineteen sixty. But he lost, just barely, to Senator John F. Kennedy. An image shows Nixon and Kennedy on a split black-and-white television screen. TIM: Then, in nineteen sixty-two, Nixon ran unsuccessfully for governor of California, so he announced that he was quitting politics entirely. An animation shows a waving Nixon fading into darkness. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, he clearly changed his mind, because six years later, he ran for president again. Nixon returns from the darkness, still waving. He is now standing behind a podium. A sign on the front of the podium reads: Nixon's the One. A supportive crowd cheers him on. TIM: Voters in the nineteen sixty-eight election were comforted by the familiar Nixon, who represented stability in troubled times. Across the country, widespread dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War, racial tensions, and the economy were fueling riots and protests. Animations show soldiers in Vietnam and rioters being subdued by police in the United States. TIM: Nixon defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey on a platform that promised peace. An animation shows Nixon winning the U.S. presidency. He is standing before a huge crowd, flashing V-for-Victory signs with both hands. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Well, fighting in Vietnam continued for several more years, but Nixon finally fulfilled his campaign's promise with a ceasefire in nineteen seventy-three. In the meantime, he worked to fix the United States' relationships with two of its biggest rivals, the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. A map of Asia highlights the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. TIM: In nineteen seventy-two, Nixon shocked the world by becoming the first U.S. president to visit Communist China. An image shows Nixon in China shaking hands with Mao Zedong, China's leader at the time. TIM: It was the first step toward improved relations between the two countries. Then, fresh off this success, Nixon paid a visit to the Soviet Union. His meetings with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev led to a declaration of détente, or easing of hostilities, between the superpowers. An image shows Nixon conferring with Brezhnev, with Moscow's Red Square in the background. TIM: On the home front, he increased government aid to the poor and elderly and decreased defense spending. He also advanced civil rights by speeding up school desegregation. An animation shows a racially integrated elementary school classroom. TIM: So, in November of nineteen seventy-two, he was reelected in a landslide. An image shows Nixon taking the Oath of Office for a second time. His wife, Pat Nixon, stands beside him. MOBY: Beep. Moby slips his Nixon mask back down over his face. He makes the same V-for- Victory gesture that Nixon was shown making earlier. TIM: Well, during the campaign, a seemingly small news story grew into a major scandal, one that would eventually bring down Nixon's presidency. Moby puts his mask back up on top of his head. He looks concerned. TIM: On June seventeenth, nineteen seventy-two, five men were arrested for breaking into Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. An animation shows the incident Tim describes. TIM: With the help of a secret informant, two news reporters uncovered ties between the burglars and President Nixon's re-election committee. Over the next two years, investigations into the Watergate case revealed a series of illegal activities on the part of the Nixon Administration. An animation shows a growing pile of binders containing Watergate evidence. Text on the spines of the first few binders reads: Watergate investigations. Text on the spine of the top binder reads: Nixon investigations. TIM: Stealing files and wiretapping were just some of the ways Nixon's people tried to harm the Democrats in the run-up to the seventy-two election. An animation shows a man bugging a telephone. TIM: As more evidence came to light, many Nixon officials were forced to resign, and some even went to jail. An animation represents several Nixon officials stepping down. Nixon remains alone. TIM: Nixon himself denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of the cover-up. Then came a stunning revelation. The president had a secret taping system that recorded all of his conversations in the Oval Office. One tape revealed that Nixon did know about the cover-up, and that he even ordered his aides to try to stop the FBI's investigation. An image shows three people listening to a tape recorder. TIM: Once Nixon's guilt was clear, all support for him vanished. He faced almost certain impeachment, a congressional charge of criminal activity that probably would have led to his removal from office. To avoid this, Nixon resigned on August ninth, nineteen seventy-four. An animation shows Nixon on television, announcing his resignation to the nation. TIM: Vice President Gerald Ford took over the presidency and later pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed. An image shows President Gerald Ford in front of an American flag. MOBY: Beep. TIM: True, but Nixon certainly paid for Watergate with his legacy. In his later years, he worked to repair his public image. He wrote books and articles, met with foreign leaders, and advised later U.S. presidents on foreign policy. An image shows an elderly Richard and Pat Nixon. TIM: Nixon died from a stroke on April twenty-second, nineteen ninety-four, at the age of eighty-one. But to this day, the Watergate scandal is a dark cloud that overshadows his many accomplishments. MOBY: Beep. Moby puts the Nixon mask back on his face and makes the V-for-Victory gesture. TIM: No, not like, inventing the victory salute. Tim scowls at Moby. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts